Small Business Trends for 2011 – Accessibility

Yesterday I published what I believe are the most relevant small business trends for 2011 – as well as a brief synopsis of the 2010 small business trends that they evolved from.

Trends are not predictions.  They are what is happening now that merits your attention.  More importantly, they give you clues about how you should be fine-tuning your business for maximum effectiveness.

That's why I am fond of saying – the trend is your friend.

What's Happening Now is History

If you are a forward thinker, you pay attention to trends because you want to move your business forward. Trends enable you to be prepared while others are following the herd.

I'm always watching the herd because it gives me ideas about what has peaked.  In any industry, everyone jumps into what is working now.  In my world, that happens to be social media.  

I've never claimed to be a social media expert, but if you search the Web you will occasionally find my name attached to that description.  The reason being that the meeting planners that hire me want to give their customers (my audience) the confidence that I can deliver.

I understand that, so I let it go, because how I can help them has less to do with where I've been – and more with where I'm going.

Be Wrong to Be Right

If you find yourself sitting back and congratulating yourself on being right, then you have peaked. When you peak, you are far less likely to know where you should be going – and that is a disservice to your customers.

This is why you should cultivate the habit of being wrong once in a while. Nothing excites me more than being wrong, because it tells me I have cast off what is holding me back from moving to the next level. 

I'm not saying you need to be a contrarian – nothing of the sort.  Being wrong all the time is usually driven by an ego-centric need to be right.  It's all about you. Forget that and invest some time in just noticing.

Noticing is a process of asking yourself a simple question: Why is this happening?  Most people don't take the time to do that. They just keep doing what they are doing.  

People, and especially customers, all want to know what's next. They want to be with someone that knows where they are going.  They are looking for a leader that will help them – a leader that can create an experience that will mean something to them – one that is personal.

Accessibility

Our second of three trends for 2011 is accessibility. In the coming year entrepreneurs and small business owners will have to work on their business to stay current.  This will probably mean they will have to work IN their business.

Their is a common catch-phrase that consultants love to use – work on your business, not in your business. I can assure you today that can be a slippery slope.  If you are not intimately involved IN your business, you could lose miss what your customers want most.

Consumers today want open and easy access to the businesses they work with.  This is one of the hallmarks of working with small businesses – they are accessible.  And this is why corporations like Starbucks, Comcast, and Ford are doing their best to use social media to open a door to their customers.

Don't you think you should be doing the same?

If you are not hands on in your business today, you are going to miss a great deal, because everything is changing.  When I operated a contracting business for twenty years, I was able to delegate, attend conferences, and even take sabaticals that extended more than a month.

Those day are over my friends, because your customers want access – to you!

If you doubt any of this, just ask yourself what you want. 

See what I mean?  You want information. You want answers. And you want action.

And the only way to get that is to have access.

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Until tomorrow,  Jeff 

Photo Credit: Ben Zvan